The present invention provides apparatus and methods related to manufacturing paper products and recycling paper products. More particularly, the present invention provides paper based banding products and methods for use thereof. The paper manufacturing industry processes pulp into paper products. This process can include the transfer of pulp to a paper manufacturer. The pulp is placed in a processing vat and reduced in preparation of making paper products. In some cases, this includes removing packaging materials that bind the pulp prior to placing the pulp in the vat. This is time consuming and wasteful.
There has been some progress in developing and using binding materials that can be placed in the vat along with the pulp. As one example, a twisted paper based strap has been used to bind the pulp. The binding includes placing the strap around the pulp, and the two ends of the strap are adhered one to another.
Further, the paper straps currently available exhibit significant liquid resistance that limits the rate at which the paper strap breaks down during the pulping process. Manufactured paper products can include paper based containers or cartons. Such cartons are used to contain a product for shipping, and can then be recycled after shipping. Often the materials used to secure such cartons must exhibit significant strength. For this reason, plastic and metal straps are often used. Use of such straps is problematic as the straps must be discarded, while the carton itself is recycled. This process of separating the recyclable materials from the non-recyclable materials is time consuming.
Thus, there exists a need in the art to address the various problems outlined above. As will be appreciated from the following disclosure, the apparatus and methods according to the present invention address these, and a number of other problems related to manufacturing paper products, using paper products, and/or recycling paper products.